Application Lifecycle Management » Articleshttp://tech.opensystemsmedia.com/application-lifecycle-management
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is integral not only in the military and avionics embedded technology realm - rife with product obsolescence - but also in the larger, more fast-paced embedded realm encompassing consumer, medical, smart grid, gaming, and many other application types. In essence, anywhere embedded software development takes place, an ALM software platform can help designers and program managers to manage and coordinate all of an application’s or project’s artifacts and activities. Specifically, an ALM platform provides holistic coordination of all software design processes as a whole: system design, modeling, requirements management, defect management, test management, configuration management, and release management. Additionally, there’s the challenge of managing safety-critical applications’ traceability across disciplines; however, this too can be managed with an ALM software platform. Some ALM software includes compliance with standards such as MISRA, DO-178B, and the Homeland Security Agency’s Common Weakness Enumerations (CWE), among others. Closely tied to ALM is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), which enables software designers to increase operational efficiency during a product’s lifetime. The Bill of Materials (BoM) is central to this process of growing efficiency, and PLM software provides a way to manage a product’s BOM from conception to obsolescence.Mon, 19 Feb 2018 15:25:35 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3Component obsolescence is a concern across system developmenthttp://www.mil-embedded.com/articles/id/?7257
http://www.mil-embedded.com/articles/id/?7257#commentsTue, 29 Aug 2017 15:00:00 +0000Doug Patterson, Aitechhttp://tech.opensystemsmedia.com/application-lifecycle-management/?guid=d014d9bf9ae60686fc5674c3a8797a15

Component obsolescence is nothing new, and the problem isn’t going away. While electronics innovations may move industry forward on one hand, the downside is that some electronics get left in the dust, no matter how widely adopted they may have been at one point.

Look at the PowerPC Altivec, for example: This powerful processing architecture had an extremely loyal install base, yet for reasons unknown to most of us, it was dropped for several years, forcing its customers to look for other processing alternatives. Although Altivec recently returned in the T4x series of the PowerPC system-on-chip (SoC) devices, the growing use of other processors supplanted the device series, effectively muting its once-untouchable popularity. Other examples of component obsolescence may not be as complex or daunting as the Altivec case, but the example stands as a warning: Component functionality that once existed in abundance can seemingly disappear overnight.

While the evolution of electronics is one main reason causing obsolescence issues, there are also a few other significant factors influencing this. For military and aerospace system designers and suppliers, these factors hit home harder than in some other industries.

Business factors affecting obsolescence

Unfortunately, the proper operation of mission-critical and highly sensitive military electronics sometimes takes a back seat to other, seemingly more pressing, concerns of semiconductor companies, such as increased yields and profits. The early demise of any one component basically moots these business factors. In fact, component obsolescence is occurring more frequently, and even sooner than was the norm, in many military program production cycles.

A recent point of contention regarding some electronic components in the defense community is the transition away from lead in electronic components [Pb <3 percent] (specified by EU mandate), allowing an almost-forgotten 80-year-old problem to rear its ugly head in the component supply chain: Yes, we’re talking about tin whiskers.

For non-mission-critical applications, failure of a system may not rank as high as profitability, according to those in the early part of the supply chain. The use of non-lead solder balls on ball grid array (BGA) devices saves enough money that the component manufacturers tolerate certain criticism from system designers. For military missions, however, where the use of lead alloy ensures that tin whiskers do not occur, and security and human lives are on the line, any level of failure is unacceptable.

As suppliers continue to remove higher-cost lead alloys from components, the percentage of tin used is increasing. For telecommunications equipment and military/defense systems, components then need to be retrofit to meet the high reliability specifications of the application.

This spec is typically accomplished by replacing the >97 percent tin alloy composite with a mix that includes the proper amount of lead to offset the growth of the tin whiskers. The unintended result is yet another cost added to military components and their programs, a cost that most heavily scrutinized programs cannot bear.

Managing availability beyond the components

Having to deal with parts that are no longer in step with the higher reliability specs isn’t the only aspect of component obsolescence. The underlying technical expertise and long-term life cycle sustainability of a program are just as important. Even at the onset of product development today, component obsolescence must already be paramount in the mind of the product developer, with an eye towards mitigating the obsolescence costs in the future for users.

As embedded computing companies continue to design and build technologically advanced, reliable commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, they should also be thinking about how the customer will be supported long-term. In-depth technical knowledge needs to be shared cross-functionally to ensure continuity. Additionally, retiring talent with that expertise needs to be replaced with newer engineering resources to plan for future program developments.

In the military/defense and aerospace industries, in which programs can take years and millions of dollars to develop, test, and qualify, all of these aspects definitely figure into obsolescence concerns. These embedded systems aren’t like the latest cellphones, easily discarded when the next upgrade comes along. They’re comprised of rugged or even military-grade single-board computers (SBCs), enclosures, I/O, and graphics products that take time and money to create. They must be available for the long haul as programs move from low-rate initial production (LRIP) to full production cycles.

A process designed to mitigate

The lifecycle of COTS products needs to be managed according to a well-defined and forward-looking program. At Aitech, for example, the COTSLifecycle+ program is divided into three distinct program phases: Active, Supported, and Extended Support, each of which provides product availability for at least four years. The combined life cycle ensures a minimum COTS product lifetime of 12 years from product introduction, and usually far longer. Employing total program and life cycle support services ensure that the products that are designed in today will meet the functional, environmental, and operating requirements of the specifications of tomorrow.

Electronic systems have always consisted of both active and passive components. In time, these components are replaced by the next generation of more technically capable components, resulting in the obsolescence of the earlier devices. This is a natural progression, but by implementing a structured approach that thinks ahead of the next electronics evolution, designers can effectively guard against, or at least prolong, such obsolescence. (Figure 1.)

Figure 1: Long-term program planning needs to start very early on in the development process. (Diagram courtesy Aitech.)

Designing for the future

No matter how you parse the problem, component obsolescence equals added costs – in many instances unplanned and unbudgeted – that translate into program delays and cost overruns. Even with a modular, preplanned technology insertion roadmap, early component obsolescence is hard to predict and even harder to counter, unless companies plan for it long before it happens.

Managing obsolescence needs to happen on many different levels and should be shared all the way from component manufacturer through to the end user. It’s not the job of just one link in the supply chain to assume all of the burden to ensure longevity of these highly integrated, rugged embedded systems. From the actual parts to availability and through to design resources, many factors can impact how far from its starting point an embedded system design may need to wind up.

Warfighters must have access to the most advanced technology available, and military systems must be held to the most stringent standards of quality and reliability. Neither of these factors is going to change. While system designers may not be able to eliminate all the factors affecting obsolescence, recognizing them will enable proper planning in terms of time to market and preplanning for the resulting cost adjustments.

Doug Patterson is vice president of the military and aerospace business sector for Aitech Defense Systems, Inc. He has more than 25 years of experience in marketing and business development as well as product management in telecommunications and harsh-environment electronics. He also served on VITA’s board of directors. Doug holds a BSEE from BEI/Sacred Heart University. He can be contacted at doug.patterson@rugged.com.

Devart, a recognized vendor of professional database management software for developers and DBAs, announced the release of dbForge Studio for SQL Server v5.5 with such significant features as Executed SQL Statements History, Support for Surround SCM predefined template, SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and SQL Server 2017 CTP2 new syntax support.

dbForge Studio for SQL Server v5.5 has received multiple improvements, and here are only several of them:

* SQL Server 2017 RC2 new syntax supported;

* Query Execution History – dramatically redesigned;

* New Feature – Monitor Server Performance;

* Lots of improvements in:

- Schema Compare

- Data Generator

- Source Control

- Code Completion

- Documenter

- Index Manager

dbForge Studio for SQL Server is an integrated environment for SQL Server development, management, administration, data reporting, and analysis. SQL Manager tool allows users to create, edit, copy, attach and detach, backup and restore databases from one server to another easily. These SQL tools help developers to manage databases, make complex database changes and speed up routine tasks.

About Devart

Devart is one of the leading developers of database tools and administration software, ALM solutions, data providers for various database servers, data integration and backup solutions. The company also implements Web and Mobile development projects.

SmartBear Software, the leader in software quality tools for teams, has joined the Eclipse MicroProfile Group, an open source collaboration community for developers and vendors to optimize the development of microservices using Enterprise Java. Microservice architecture has increasingly become the preferred way of developing enterprise applications, particularly when support for a wide range of platforms and devices is required. Members actively involved in the MicroProfile Group include Red Hat, IBM, Fujitsu, Oracle, SOUJava, Hazelcast, Hammock and kumuluzEE.

“We’re pleased to have SmartBear join MicroProfile and bring their expertise to the group,” said Ian Robinson, IBM WebSphere CTO and Eclipse MicroProfile founding member. “The MicroProfile project will continue to drive innovation, standardization and adoption of microservices best practices for Enterprise Java with the help of SmartBear.”

“Java is an excellent choice for enterprise-grade microservices given its maturity and stability,” said Ole Lensmar, CTO at SmartBear. “We are excited to partner with industry leaders to develop the standardization of microservices development.”

SmartBear has a history of supporting cutting-edge technology for modern application development, including the shift toward microservices. In 2015, SmartBear acquired Swagger and donated the Swagger Specification later that year creating the Open API Initiative. The Open API Initiative, under the Linux Foundation, governs the continued evolution of the Swagger Specification, now referred to as the Open API Specification. Later this month, the Open API Specification 3.0 is expected to be released, adding additional support for microservices.

With the Open API Specification 3.0 enabling microservice applications, SmartBear has a vision for making microservices production and consumption as easy as possible with Swagger tooling. Additionally, the company will build MicroProfile solutions into its products, including SwaggerHub.

The MicroProfile Group launched at DevNation in June 2016. MicroProfile 1.0 was released in September and became an Eclipse Project in December. For more information, visit: https://microprofile.io/.

About SmartBear Software

Supporting more than six million software professionals and over 22,000 companies in 194 countries, SmartBear is the leader in software quality tools for teams. The company’s products help deliver the highest quality and best performing software possible while helping teams ship code at nearly impossible velocities. With products for API testing, UI testing, code review and performance monitoring across mobile, web and desktop applications, SmartBear equips every development, testing and operations team member with the tools to ensure quality at every stage of the software cycle. For more information, visit: smartbear.com, or for the SmartBear community, go to: LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

FREMONT, CALIF. —April 18, 2017—American Portwell Technology, Inc. (www.portwell.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Portwell, Inc., a world-leading technology innovator in the Industrial PC (IPC) and embedded computing markets and an Associate member of the Intel® Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions Alliance, empowering the Internet of Things (IoT) with intelligent gateways and edge devices, announces the Portwell XM-1, the first IoT gateway to feature international patents of highly composable structure. XM-1 satisfies customers’ requests for an IoT gateway solution that can meet the requirements emerging from an extensive range of IoT applications.

System Characteristics of XM-1 Modularized IoT Gateway

- Modularization mechanism with patents

- All the communication modules can be hot-plugged on-site without removing the system chassis

For applications into “diverse” communication interfaces

Due to local/specific infrastructural challenges — such as transmission distance, geological obstacles, limitation of regulation and/or power consumption — a system integrator involved in a wide variety of IoT projects might need to deploy a gateway solution, ideally, designed with various communication interfaces to ensure that data can be collected effectively under the same IoT structure. With the modularized design of XM-1, the same system integrator can select and “insert” the communication module/s based on “actual” application needs and requirements instead of preparing several different hardware gateways. For example, intelligent agriculture can utilize LoRa long range, low power wireless technology for collecting data, plus LTE (Long-Term Evolution) high-speed wireless communication to connect to the cloud. In other cases, the system integrator might be required to choose to adopt Wi-Fi instead of LTE, and accordingly the LTE module could be exchanged with a Wi-Fi module swiftly and easily. Portwell’s agile XM-1 modularized IoT gateway not only helps save costs, but also provides remarkable flexibility for unlimited IoT deployments within an evolving IoT world.

Enhanced efficiency for facility maintenance and upgrade

When a communication or connectivity system encounters technical issues, or requires an upgrade, engineers no longer need to open the system/gateway chassis. With its hot-plugging capability, XM-1 facilitates easier maintenance and upgrade. This modular design can dramatically decease the training time for technicians and help the enterprises lower costs and enhance efficiency

Portwell also announces a series of wireless sensor nodes, DS-1 and DS-1B, supporting Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and a wide variety of options for sensors and wireless connectivity.

Connecting numerous sensors under limited space condition

The DS-1 series integrates numerous sensors with the electronic and mechanical characteristics, dramatically decreasing circuit and mechanical complexity. The DS-1 series is a highly flexible sensor node solution that makes construction easier, faster and simpler.

Can be applied in almost any IoT application imaginable

1. Smart Home

Adopting the Wi-Fi communication module and integrating sensors of smoke, CO (carbon monoxide), gas, temperature, humidity and PIR (passive infrared) motion, the DS-1 sensor node series enables an intelligent system to rapidly understand the home environment and provide a more comfortable and safer living experience.

2. Intelligent Agriculture

With LoRa long range, low power wireless technology and sensors of soil humidity, CO2 (carbon dioxide) and UV, the DS-1 sensor node series enables an intelligent system to collect useful and valuable data to empower smart farming, such as analyzing the best cultivation plan for the highest yields.

3. Intelligent Factory

Adopting the Wi-Fi or ZigBee communication module and integrating sensors of flame, combustible gas, alcohol, harmful gas and vibration, the DS-1 sensor node series helps place factory operation under smart control by providing an intelligent system that detects if any of these factors might be at a level that risks interrupting the factory’s operation.

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Product details:

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About American Portwell Technology

American Portwell Technology, Inc., is a world-leading innovator in the embedded computing market and an Associate member of the Intel® Internet of Things Solutions Alliance. American Portwell Technology designs, manufactures and markets a complete range of PICMG computer boards, embedded computer boards and systems, rackmount systems and network communication appliances for both OEMs and ODMs. American Portwell is an ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001 and TL 9000 certified company. The company is located in Fremont, California. For more information about American Portwell’s extensive turnkey solutions and private-label branding service, call 1-877-APT-8899, email info@portwell.com or visit us at www.portwell.com.

All products and company names referred to herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.

Some time ago, when designers started thinking about unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) applications, concerns were raised that the undersea environment might be so different or exotic that standard solutions would need to be significantly modified. To the surprise of many, however, it was found that there is significant commonality between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and UUV environments. There are, to be sure, unique aspects to each type of platform, but in general, standard rugged military commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) embedded solutions are applicable to both.

The U.S. Navy sees great potential in the use of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), which already see active duty today in such missions as searching for and removing mines and collecting oceanographic data. The range and scope of missions with which these platforms are tasked is sure to expand rapidly if the proliferation of uses for unmanned air and ground vehicles is any predictor.

According to a 2016 forecast from MarketsandMarkets, the overall UUV market – including commercial, defense, and homeland-security applications – is on track to nearly double, from $2.29 billion in 2015 to $4 billion by 2020. It’s expected that these vehicles, whether small enough to be launched from a submarine’s torpedo tubes or 51 feet long like Boeing’s Echo Voyager, will take on more and more autonomy and will be sent on increasingly complex missions, such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and situational awareness. These types of compute-intensive applications will drive big increases in the amount of processing and networking capabilities that need to be deployed on UUVs. The good news is that many of the COTS solutions already developed, deployed, and field-proven on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also suitable for use on UUVs. The challenge for UUVs, just as it is for their airborne and ground siblings, often comes down to size, weight, and power – especially power.

The trick for UUV system designers is how best to optimize the mission payload while taking into consideration the limits of the underwater vehicle’s power source, which ultimately determines maximum endurance, distance, and speed. By definition, UUVs must travel through the thick medium of water, which means that it takes eight times the amount of energy to enable it to go twice as fast. That’s why there’s a technology race on to develop the best way to power UUVs. Power candidates today range from environmentally propelled wave gliders to electrical batteries, such as lithium-ion designs, to fuel engines and cells. Very recently, for example, Aerojet Rocketdyne received a contract from the U.S. Navy to develop technology that enables a UUV’s battery to be wirelessly and remotely recharged while undersea.

COTS vendors have a big role to play in helping to expand the capabilities of UUVs by applying their expertise in miniaturizing electronics and ruggedizing for harsh environments. The SWaP constraints typical of UAVs are similar to those found in underwater vehicles. What’s more, the same system architectures, technologies, module, and line-replaceable unit (LRU) approaches can be used to speed development and bring down cost. There are some differences, though, when deploying COTS systems undersea versus in the air. Some of those differences actually make life easier for the UUV designer and add requirements distinct from those confronted by airborne system integrators.

Cool it

It’s safe to assume that for most COTS system designers the underwater environment is an unfamiliar one. It may come as a happy surprise, then, to find out that the one of the biggest differences (and advantages) that UUVs have over air and ground vehicles is that they operate in what has been called the biggest heatsink in the world. As a result, providing efficient thermal management is much less troublesome underwater. In fact, for some designs, water can actually be allowed to flow through the interior of the UUV to directly cool isolated payload chambers.

Cooling is a challenge for UAVs for the simple reason that there are fewer molecules in the air at higher altitudes. In the case where UAV system requirements provide no airflow for cooling electronics, thermal management is more difficult. The upside for UUV system designers is that a COTS system built to operate at high altitude is also one that can be trusted to perform well underwater. In fact, cooling demands are much more rigorous for UAVs flown where there is no air than they are for systems deployed in a sealed chamber, as is the case with many UUV subsystems.

UUV system designers also don’t have to worry about altitude. For airborne applications, altitude can be of concern because of its potential effect on components, such as electrolytic capacitors, which are susceptible to failure at higher altitudes. UAV system designers must make sure that they are using components that are altitude-rated for the intended usage. For example, helicopters are generally satisfied with a device that can operate as high as 15,000 feet, while a surveillance aircraft may need devices that can function at altitudes from 30,000 to 60,000 feet. Airborne COTS systems typically must pass MIL-STD-810 altitude testing in an altitude simulation chamber to validate operation at the altitude required by the intended application.

Different for UUVs: Shock testing

While altitude is not a requirement for UUVs, they may have very different shock and vibration requirements than UAVs. For example, UUV testing might require simulating the effects of a torpedo hit. Certifying for this type of threat means that UUV subsystems may need to prove reliability for the relevant frequencies covered by MIL-S-901D, a U.S. Navy standard for shock testing. In this case, the COTS solution intended for deployment onboard a UUV might need to survive a floating barge test, where it is exposed to an explosive shock. Or, alternatively, shock testing might involve a 901D hammer test, during which the electronics are hard-mounted against a metal plate and then struck with a large hammer-like pendulum device that creates massive amounts of G-forces.

SoCs across the board

Overall, there is a great amount of commonality in the requirements of COTS solutions for UUVs, UAVs, and even unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). For example, all three platforms can use system-on-chip (SoC) technologies: Because SWaP is a key issue, the use of Intel and ARM-core SoC-based mobile class processors, which consolidate CPU, I/O, and memory controllers all within a single IC package – such as an Intel Atom 3800 series processor – is beneficial. Having the option to select a single chip that combines a processor, its companion chipset, and graphics processor (like with the Intel Atom), or to combine a higher performance CPU and integrated GPU (like with the Intel Core i7 products) helps to reduce space and weight for the physical boards and therefore the overall physical size of the system. Moreover, each of these architectures uses advanced power management technologies, making them much more efficient from a MIPS [millions of instructions per second] or FLOPS [floating-point operations per second] per watt perspective. For that reason, they are being used increasingly in applications, such as UUVs, where power sensitivity is present.

A good solution for UUV components are LRUs that cool through passive natural convection; in these, heat is radiated through the thermal mass of the chassis outward without any moving parts, liquid, or air flow. Because the chassis doesn’t need to be bolted down for heat to be conducted downward to a cold plate, these types of subsystems are much easier to thermally manage and integrate and can be located in a much wider variety of places within a platform. An example of rugged LRUs that cool with natural convection are Curtiss-Wright’s Parvus DuraCOR mission computers and DuraNET network switches (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The DuraNET 20-11 switch supports IEEE-1588 PTP, which is used in both UUV and UAV applications.

Whether the platform is a UUV or UAV, the mission will typically require communications, computing, and sensors. The target environment, whether air, ground, or sea, will determine which types of sensors need to be supported. For example, a UAV would need FLIR [a forward-looking infrared camera], while a UUV would call for sonar. Although the payloads between the various types of vehicles will be different, the basic COTS electronics won’t vary that much.

Another area of commonality between UUVs and UAVs appears to be the use of Ethernet as the network backbone of choice. The underlying infrastructure for both platforms will use the same traditional Ethernet interface connectivity and can be built using the same COTS building blocks. Additionally, IEEE-1588 Precision Timing Protocol (PTP) synchronization over the network is also increasingly a common trait between the undersea and aerial vehicles.

Mike Southworth serves as product marketing manager for Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions, where he is responsible for the small-form-factor rugged mission computers and Ethernet networking subsystem product line targeting size, weight, and power (SWaP)-constrained military and aerospace applications. Southworth has more than 15 years of experience in technical product management and marketing communications leadership roles. He holds an MBA from the University of Utah and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Brigham Young University.

Unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) are pushing boundaries and evolving in innovative ways – often drawing design inspiration from nature – to carry out a variety of military missions.

By drawing design inspiration from nature, unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) are evolving to become downright innovative and stealthy and, in many cases, capable of carrying payloads that can be customized for a wide variety of military missions.

One of the most well-known UUVs is Lockheed Martin’s Marlin, which is capable of fully independent operation. The U.S. Navy can use Marlin “for a variety of undersea applications such as below water intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and small payload deliveries,” says Tim Fuhr, director of autonomous maritime systems for Lockheed Martin. “Marlin can go where submarines and manned vessels can’t or don’t want to go, and use its sensors, communication, and data reduction capabilities.”

Sea mines are one of the most formidable challenges the Navy faces, and finding and mapping them “is good usage of UUVs,” Fuhr says. “UUVs like Marlin can be outfitted to be a single-sortie detect-to-engage chain, coupled with the right sensors, target recognition software, and an expendable mine neutralizer.”

Another well-known UUV is “Knifefish,” which was created by Bluefin Robotics Corp. and has since become part of General Dynamics Mission Systems. Its standard model uses a wide variety of sensors to conduct its operations, including inertial navigation systems, Doppler velocity logger, compasses, and sound-velocity sensors. Knifefish’s payload is a low-frequency broadband synthetic aperture sonar to detect buried mines.

“Knifefish provides search, detection, classification, and identification of buried, bottom, and volume mines in high-clutter environments in a single pass – with minimal intervention by human operators and reduced overall mine countermeasures mission timeline,” says Matt Graziano, a director of the Maritime and Strategic Systems line of business within General Dynamics Mission Systems. “The proliferation of relatively low-cost and easily deployed underwater mines poses a unique threat to naval operations and maritime security.” (Figure 1.)

UUV payloads

As far as payloads being carried by UUVs, the ability to customize for specific missions is highly desirable. “We have multiple Marlin vehicles, and each is outfitted slightly differently with COTS [commercial off-the-shelf] parts, custom sensors, and communications electronics,” Fuhr notes. “It’s straightforward to customize the vehicles for a particular application as long as the electronics are compatible with Marlin’s size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements.”

“Autonomy, data-processing capabilities, energy systems, and underwater communication systems are the main areas of development and challenge,” in UUV development today, according to Fuhr. “Energy-storage systems define the size of UUVs because the vehicle must carry its own energy source, which has to last for the duration of an intended mission. A UUV like Marlin wants to maximize mission range, minimize detectability, and have the capacity to be a data and communications node – in both single-asset and multiple-asset mission scenarios.”

Where is UUV technology heading next? Lockheed Martin is focusing on “coordinated development of extra-large UUVs for large payload capabilities; large-diameter systems for submarine-related operations; small UUVs for mine countermeasures and missions where expendability is desired; and cooperative behaviors between UUVs, unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),” Fuhr says. “Another key element is interoperability with other assets, and the ability to enable and participate in multidomain operations.”

Emerging innovations

Other defense prime contractors, government laboratories, and university teams are exploring innovations in the UUV realm. There are too many to note them all, but here are a few exceptional ones.

Release the CRACUNS!

Seemingly something straight out of science fiction, researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory recently developed the Corrosion Resistant Aerial Covert Unmanned Nautical System, dubbed the CRACUNS, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can stay on station hidden below water, and then launch into the air to perform a variety of missions. (Figure 2.)

Figure 2: CRACUNS can be launched from a fixed position underwater or from an unmanned undersea vehicle. Image courtesy of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

The ability to “Release the CRACUNS” is ushering in new capabilities not previously possible with UAV or UUV platforms. Its ability to operate within the harsh littoral environment, as well as its payload flexibility, means that CRACUNS can be used for a wide array of missions. Its low cost is a bonus that makes it expendable, allowing for use of large numbers of vehicles for high-risk scenarios.

The most innovative feature of CRACUNS? The researchers say that it can remain at and launch from a significant depth or from a UUV without needing structural metal parts or machined surfaces. To do this, the designers fabricated a lightweight, submersible, composite airframe capable of withstanding water pressure while submerged. Sensitive components are protected from a corrosive saltwater environment by being sealed within a dry pressure vessel, while motors receive protective coatings.

Undersea navigation

Another key advance currently underway is focused on undersea navigation. BAE Systems is working to develop an undersea navigation system for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to provide precise global positioning throughout the ocean basins. (Figure 3.)

Figure 3: BAE Systems is developing an undersea navigation system, called POSYDON, for DARPA, with the goal of allowing undersea vehicles to navigate below the ocean’s surface. Image courtesy of BAE Systems.

The Positioning System for Deep Ocean Navigation (POSYDON) program’s goal is to enable underwater vehicles to accurately navigate while remaining below the ocean’s surface. Intriguingly, POSYDON will tap some hardcore physics to create a positioning, navigation, and timing system designed specifically to permit vehicles to remain underwater by using multiple, integrated, long-range acoustic sources at fixed locations around the oceans.

BAE Systems has more than 40 years of experience developing underwater active and passive acoustic systems: “We’ll use this same technology to revolutionize undersea navigation for POSYDON by selecting and demonstrating acoustic underwater GPS sources and corresponding small-form-factor receivers,” says Joshua Niedzwiecki, director of Sensor Processing and Exploitation for BAE Systems.

The vehicle instrumentation that will be needed to capture and process acoustic signals will also be developed as part of the program. BAE Systems plans to use its capabilities in the areas of signal processing, acoustic communications, interference cancellation, and antijam/antispoof technologies. The company is collaborating with researchers from the University of Washington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Texas at Austin for the POSYDON program.

Devart, a recognized vendor of professional database management software for developers and DBAs, has released a new version of dbForge Studio for Oracle v3.10. dbForge Studio for Oracle v3.10 now supports connection to Oracle Database 12c Release 2 and the Database Search tool, Visual Object Editors have been completely redesigned.

dbForge Studio for Oracle is a powerful integrated development environment (IDE) for Oracle, which helps developers to increase PL/SQL coding speed, provides versatile data editing tools for managing data. This tool for Oracle allows synchronizing data between different Oracle servers and automating schema change management process during development. It has lots of other useful features wrapped into a smooth GUI consistent with Microsoft Visual Studio.

About Devart

Devart is one of the leading developers of database tools and administration software, ALM solutions, data providers for various database servers, data integration and backup solutions. The company also implements Web and Mobile development projects.

New and old military aircraft platforms are continuing to embrace high-speed networks in their new avionics data bus selections, choosing protocols such as high-speed Ethernet and ARINC 429. Meanwhile, MIL-STD 1553 continues to live on in new designs and sustainment contracts despite its slower speeds.

Reliability and flexibility in design are what military avionics integrators want from a data bus solution, whether it is MIL-STD 1553 or 40 GBit Ethernet. While this is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market, avionics data bus users typically want the flexibility to tweak the COTS offerings for their specific needs from size, ruggedization, and cost perspectives.

“Both legacy and new-design aircraft are adding modern, high-speed networks where the requirements and the cost fit within the customers’ budgets,” says Mark Grovak of Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “For new aircraft, it’s a no-brainer to go to 1 or 10 Gb Ethernet networks as they are laying out the wiring in a new aircraft. For legacy aircraft, the math is harder because of the additional cost of rewiring a legacy aircraft with the wiring that supports faster data rates.”

“Proven reliability is a key factor in the selection of an avionics data bus solution,” says Michael Hegarty of Data Device Corp. (DDC). They also want flexible options when it comes to make or buy, he adds. For example, he says, leveraging “COTS board-level solutions or chip-level solutions that can be used to design custom cards.”

Popular protocols

Flexibility is also important when it comes to protocol support, Hegarty notes, with designers wanting the option to go with MIL-STD 1553, ARINC 429, CANbus, RS232/485, discrete I/O, or the like, as well as network-attached solutions using Ethernet or USB.

“One of the most popular commercial avionics data bus solutions today remains ARINC 429,” says Jon Neal, vice president and general manager, Astronics Ballard Technology. “This is commonly used for new avionics displays and systems that are retrofitted onto military aircraft.”

Hegarty says that ARINC 429 “continues to be used for commercial aircraft, although the use of ARINC 664 Part 7 appears to be increasing in those commercial aircraft applications.”

Fibre Channel still has market share in many military avionics applications that called for faster speeds than 1553, says Jack Staub, president of Critical I/O. Now many of their customers are also moving toward Ethernet solutions, he adds. One of Critical I/O’s Fibre Channel offerings is the FCA2540-XMC family, which has two copper or optical interfaces and offers two independent channels of 8/4/2/1 Gbps Fibre Channel in an XMC form factor with PCI-Express host interface.

For its part, DDC offers the ACE Extreme family of products for flexible avionics I/O solutions: A chip-level solution (Total-ACE Extreme), a board-level solution (ACE Extreme boards are available as PMC, XMC, PCIe, Mini-PCIe, and other form factors), or a box-level solution. All ACE products share a common software platform.

Ethernet, Ethernet, Ethernet

“The use of Ethernet as a data plane within mission systems appears to be increasing,” Hegarty says. “Historically, Ethernet has had two main drawbacks – the lack of ’determinism‘ and the overhead associated with the TCP/IP protocol. Both of these factors limit the real-time performance of Ethernet as compared to FibreChannel. There are some new real-time extensions to Ethernet, but their use in avionics is very limited.”

Grovak says he sees growing demand for Ethernet, as it’s the 1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet that are the main new data buses that Curtiss-Wright’s customers are requesting. “As the processing capability on aircraft continue to increase, the need for faster networks to move the resulting information around the aircraft will also increase. We see Ethernet as it increases from 10 GbE to 40 GbE and beyond as the main road map. Legacy applications of 2 Gb FibreChannel on F-35 and F/A-18 will be used for the foreseeable future because of the fiber-optic infrastructure in place.”

MIL-STD 1553 demand still strong

As mentioned above, reliability is the key demand from every avionics data bus customer, and what’s more reliable than 1553?

“There are a number of factors for the continued use of 1553,” Hegarty says, starting with the fact that the vast majority of legacy aircraft are using it for command/status between major functional subsystems. Replacing 1553 with an alternative bus would require replacing every electronics box connected to the buses; many existing systems on the platform “don’t need higher bandwidth so it is not worth the investment to replace 1553 with a different technology. [It is a] bulletproof data bus. Other data buses may be faster, but they do not provide similar robustness in terms of their tolerance to electromagnetic effects.”

For modernization and technology upgrades. 1553 has become indispensable for translating signals. “For technology-insertion and aircraft-upgrade programs, new 1553 interface equipment is vital for translating data bus signals to other protocols and networks [such as ARINC 429, Ethernet, CANbus] in order to extend the life of current aircraft and add functionality, while avoiding costly rewiring to change networks,” Neal says. Astronics Ballard Technology offers the rugged AB3000, an airborne computer optimized for processing data between various avionics data buses (MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429, etc.) and other links such as Ethernet and RS-232. (Figure 1.)

“Eventually, the transition of command/control to Ethernet data transfer buses will occur, enabled by the incorporation of enabling standards within Ethernet such as Precision Time Protocol version 2 (IEEE 1588-2008), Time Sensitive Networking, and other optimizations,” Grovak explains. “In the meantime, phased migration will occur – as the LRUs are replaced, Ethernet will be available on new hardware alongside 1553, giving platform architects options for changeover at a future point when fewer and fewer legacy LRUs are solely dependent on the existing 1553 cabling infrastructure on a platform.”

Immortalizing 1553

Some things are certain in life, such as death, taxes, and – it appears – 1553, as there are initiatives underway to give the venerable standard a touch of immortality and of course more speed.

“An important effort to extend the life of the 1553 cabling infrastructure is underway,” Grovak says. “In 2016, STANAG 7221 was released by NATO and was driven by an international effort over the last five years to standardize a high-speed data bus technology that could operate concurrently on the MIL-STD 1553B data bus without impacting the MIL-STD 1553B signaling and without modification to the existing data bus infrastructure. STANAG 7221 has been successfully validated in both fixed- and rotary-wing platforms.”

Avionics data bus testing

Military and commercial end users also want flexibility in data bus test solutions: “Our military customers are consistently looking for avionics data bus solutions that are secure and reliable for both embedded and test applications,” Neal says. “Typical applications include operational systems, protocol translation, and data bus test, simulation, and troubleshooting.”

“Open architectures and flexibility of functionality of FPGA [field-programmable gate array] FW [firmware] and APIs [application program interfaces], with the APIs common across operating systems and board types; also, real-time support (pre- and post-sale) is a key component of what they are expecting,” says Abaco Systems’ Ben Daniel. “As hosts move to current tech, there is an obvious migration from PCI to PCIe, both in rackmount/desktop hosts and in PMC to XMC migration for embedded applications. In parallel, the host operating systems are constantly updating, so there is a continuous migration to support those. Again in parallel, new designs take advantage of the latest available components, so the capability versus footprint and price benefits the market. There is also an increase in interest around small-form-factor applications, not just in low SWaP [size, weight, and power] systems – VPX and the like – but in nontraditional, very small systems for embedded applications.” Abaco Systems offers the R15-MPCIE two-channel 1553 board with discretes and the RAR-MPCIE 8RX/4TX ARINC 429 board with discretes.

VITA’s Standards Organization (VSO) has been working diligently to finalize a major update to the VITA 65 standard, also known as OpenVPX. In addition, CERDEC [U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center] has been instrumental in supplying some of the additions to the standard. Even broader than these specification updates are additional efforts being made on other VITA standards that strengthen the overall VPX environment itself.

From field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to radio frequency (RF) and optical connectors, faster, more efficient technologies are being incorporated into the fabric of VPX. More and more organizations are becoming involved to ensure interoperability and cohesion among VPX systems and components (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Examples of RF and optical connector interfaces being used by the updated specifications.

The VPX movement continues

The activity level within VITA, and within the VPX ecosystem itself, has been intensely busy over the past year, with both VITA 65.0 and VITA 65.1 being on the cusp of ANSI balloting. The most recent working group ballots for these two documents ended on February 28th, and solicitation for an ANSI ballot group ended on March 2nd.

A tremendous amount of effort has gone into what will be the third release of VITA 65, and there have been many significant additions since the document was last updated in 2012. Even though all the charts associated with module and backplane dash numbers have been moved into newly created VITA 65.1, the base document is still expanding by more than 40 percent, to a massive 800 pages.

Working in tandem with the balloting of the VITA 65 updates are other related efforts, which are nearing completion as well:

VITA 46.9, which defines rear I/O PMC/XMC mapping on VPX modules, recently completed a working group ballot and is expected to go to ANSI ballot soon.

VITA 57.4 FMC+, being led by Samtec and Xilinx, involves a higher-speed FPGA mezzanine that will support data rates in excess of 28 Gb/s between a base card and the FMC mezzanine. This standard will allow the newest FPGA devices to enhance the performance of 3U and 6U VPX modules by allowing the support of additional features as required.

VITA 67.3, a new standard, is both flexible and far-reaching, defining a detailed connector format that enables the development of far more complex VPX RF modules. Optical modules have already been produced that use the newly defined VITA 67.3 backplane apertures as well as a combined RF and optical module in accordance with VITA 67.3.

VPX provides much higher data rates to the robust Eurocard form factor. Optical interfaces will allow continued support of even higher speeds, while RF interfaces bring radio and radar antenna connections directly to the backplane. VPX integrated switches are already available to handle both data and control plane communication. Compatibility with existing XMC mezzanines, as well as the new faster FMC mezzanine standard, give VPX the flexibility to meet every challenge.

Support throughout military environments

With roots in the long-used military technology VME platform, VPX modules are being developed to support communications, surveillance, electronic warfare, and many other types of defense applications, especially for vehicles. It seems clear today that all three military services have concluded that the VPX architecture is critical to the future development of their electronic hardware. Further evidence of this expanding adoption is the Air Force’s support of VITA 78 for aerospace applications.

Additionally, the Office of Naval Research’s support of a 3U 12-slot VPX convergence backplane – and a similar effort within the Army CERDEC command for its own 3U 12-slot convergence backplane – are very visible efforts that have resulted in new standard VPX development backplanes that are part of the new VITA 65.3 release (Figure 2).

Figure 2: New backplane topologies, with diagrams.

Power in numbers

Currently, there are at least 44 different companies producing VPX modules for the open market and at least six connector companies that make various connector modules used in VPX products (Figure 3). There are also many larger suppliers building special VPX modules for their own customer programs.

Massive software initiatives supporting the hardware development are augmenting both the Army and Navy efforts, although these actions are far less visible. For example, the Navy is heavily committed to extending the capability of VITA 49 (VITA Radio Transport). This standard will allow a common control interface that defines the management of RF waveforms and packetized data necessary to support multiple software radio modules and other electronic warfare hardware that is being built in accordance with the VPX architecture.

These software and hardware developments within the Army and Navy have required new clocking and timing architectures to be developed with VPX that have been done in a very clever fashion. The new architectures allow some “Ref_Clk” and “Aux_Clk” signals to be driven either as traditional bused multi-drop signals and other modules to receive their “Ref_Clk” and “Aux_Clk” signals radially within the same backplane.

Continued strides toward interoperability

Another major effort focused on making VPX hardware more interoperable and more manageable for defense applications is being driven by NAVAIR [U.S. Naval Air Systems Command], but being done mostly outside of the VSO. A VITA 84 study group serves as a Q&A forum for the NAVAIR engineers and their contractors, who are independently developing a multitiered hardware open systems technology (HOST) document. This document will draw heavily on the VITA 46.11 standard for VPX system management. The HOST effort is intended to reduce some flexibility of key modules to improve interoperability and interchangeability of VPX modules.

VPX, with its high degree of flexibility, has made it increasingly difficult for the end customer to ensure that multiple vendors will have interchangeable modules with respect to a given backplane slot. The development of both hardware and software test fixtures is a particularly interesting aspect of the HOST effort.

That the HOST effort is taking place outside of the VITA Standards Organization is ideal because NAVAIR would like to enforce common design approaches that will require a level of cooperation that might otherwise have been resisted if individual vendors were left to their own devices. The HOST specification is also being followed closely by the Army CERDEC team. Until now, VPX system management has seen less than favorable adoption, but the HOST standard is on track to make the broad benefits of VPX system management a reality.

Next on the horizon

There are many significant key standards and specifications responsible for driving VPX today. With more than 47 separate VITA standards addressing various aspects of the VPX architecture – as well as a number of other external specifications such as HOST, MORA, and Victory – also supporting VPX system development, there is obviously continued development and interest in building out the ecosystem.

The VPX architecture is already 10 years old, but with all the new features added in the past 24 months, it would be fair to say that this architecture is still in its infancy. As more vendors implement the newest optical and RF technologies and HOST management is rolled out, military and aerospace applications of VPX will only continue to grow.

Michael Munroe is the technical specialist for Elma Electronic. He is a significant contributor to open standards committees, including PICMG, VITA, and OpenVPX. He serves on the technical committee for VITA 65 and is the secretary-treasurer of PICMG.